My Belkin USB 2.0 Notebook card only runs at USB1 please help.

[dave555-8]

Hi, I recently purchased a 500 gig hard drive which I find takes days to fill when tranferring data. Because of this I bought a Belkin USB2.0 Notebook card. Unfortunately it will only run at USB1 speeds. I understand from researching various web sites that putting an add on USB2 card of various manufacturers in various laptops does not work.
I am wondering if there is a known USB2 Notebook card (PCMCIA I believe they call them)which is known to work successfully in my laptop which is a Sony Vaio PCG-FX905P.
I know its relatively old and some may say go buy a new one. However this laptop does everything I want it to bar the speed of transfer of large amounts of data so desperately need a USB2 connection. Cheers Dave PS I tried a search on this topic but could not find any

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

The Belkin USB 2.0 PCMCIA card is an excellent device and I use this on my old GR series notebook without problem. However you must first install the Belkin drivers (before inserting the card) as the native Windows drivers WILL cause problems.

You will find these drivers on the supplied CD but I suggest that you also look at the Belkin Web site for updated drivers.

Once the drivers are installed and the card inserted, make sure that Device Manager is listing the Belkin USB 2.0 High Speed Host Controller.
Assuming that your operating system is XP you should see something like this:

[dave555-8]

Cheers for that info. I have installed the driver that came with the device however it made no difference. I will try the update and other info you supplied too and let you know asap. Cheers

[dave555-8]

Hi Rich
I'm afraid I have not had much luck again. I did exactly as you described and loaded the driver from the Belkin website. I then followed the instructions and the result was as shown below. The driver is not described as Belkin but it is the one that comes from the site and is the same as the one on the supplied disk. After installation,


I tried a speed test by transferring a video file from my internal laptop drive via the Belkin and onto my freecom 500gig drive. The 654MB file took 887 seconds to complete a copy and paste which seems like usb1 speed unless I'm mistaken. Anything else you think may be worth trying would be appreciated.
Regards Dave

[dave555-8]

Hi Rich (again)

I appear to have got a bit further on this one however I am still thinking there is a problem with the Vaio. I selected the 'Enhanced PCI to USB host controller' and chose update which started the Wizard. I then selected 'I will choose the driver' option which then gave me the Belkin high speed usb2 controller which I then installed. All well and good I thought until I then tried the same test of transferring the same file. I then took exactly the same time as before. The new screen shot is below showing installation.
Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

Well at least you now have the correct drivers installed. I assume that you are not receiving any messages to the effect that the device could perform better with a USB 2.0 port or something similar?

I will try to replicate the transfer of 654MB via my Belkin adaptor and let you know transfer rate/time taken - may not be until later this weekend....

[dave555-8]

Hi Rich

I only have the 'device works better with a usb2 port' when I use the original usb ports on the Vaio. When I go through the Belkin I have never received that message which implies that it always saw it as a usb2 port. It's just a shame the Belkin doesn't know it. :smileygrin:
Thanks for your help on this one

Dave

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

A transfer of 701MB of data from internal hard drive to external via the Belkin USB2.0 PCMCIA card took 97 seconds so you most definitely have a problem.

The question is of course is does the problem lay with the card, cabling, hard drive or USB host controller. The first three can possibly be eliminated by trying other devices on the card, a different cable and borrowing another external hard drive.

I notice that your model has the VIA host controller as opposed to the Intel host controller with which I have successfully used this card on two Vaio notebooks. It may be worth investigating which VIA USB Host Controller Lower Filter Drivers you are using.

You should find these in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers. A Google suggests that the two files you are looking for are VULFNTH.SYS (updated version is v2.60) & VULFNTR.SYS (updated version is v2.64). If you have older versions of these drivers then I can send you a link to download the latest versions.

[dave555-8]

Hi Rich

I think you have nearly cracked this one. Firstly I have two freecom 500gig external drives and the slow transfer speed exists on both drives therefore this eliminates the cables and drives.
Now as to the two files you mention i.e. VULFNTH.SYS and VULFNTR.SYS, they don't exist at all in the directory you mention. (see screen shot below). So do you suggest I do a trace for these two files and install them. Also, because I am heading into 'hidden file territory' is there anything that can go wrong and if so how do I recover from it. PS a strong cuppa is not the answer I hope

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

My profuse apologies for the delay in replying – I missed your rely to my post… In future please feel free to PM me if you have not had a timely reply!

I must admit that I am just a little confused as to why the said files are not in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers as research suggests that they should be….

I am reluctant to suggest that you copy them over as the chances are that unless you already have an older version of these files this may be pointless as there may not be a registry entry pointing to them. That said it is worth a try and I have attached the two files. Please create a system restore point prior to pasting these files.

Prior to the above can you please search your entire hard drive for these files and report back? Also can you let us know which drivers the VIA host controller is using – Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller – right click and select Properties > Driver > Driver Details. The chances are it is using native Microsoft drivers from usbhub.sys, usbport.sys and usbuhci.sys.

I do have a copy of the VIA install drivers and have attached a copy of the readme file – these drivers seem to support VT6202, VT6212 and VT8235. Do any of these codes appear in the properties under device manager?

EDIT: Also have a look at this link .